Write to a prisoner’s family: Kim Kuk-gi in North Korea

One of two South Korean men detained late last year by the North Korean government on charges of espionage is Presbyterian pastor, Kim Kuk-gi, who has dedicated much of the past 13 years to helping North Korean defectors in China.

On March 26, 2015, North Korea’s official KCNA news agency described the two men, Kim and Choe Chun-gil, as ‘heinous terrorists’ who operated from a base in the Chinese city of Dandong. ‘They zealously took part in an anti-DPRK [anti-North Korea] smear campaign’, said KCNA, alleging their activities were organised by US intelligence and the South Korean National Intelligence Service (NIS). The two men were presented at a ‘press conference’ in Pyongyang attended by journalists and foreign diplomats. Kim was also accused of spreading ‘religious propaganda’ from an ‘underground church’ he ran in Dandong.